The Mark Thompson Show

Mark is back from his holiday on the high seas and now officially settling back into the captain’s chair here at the Mark Thompson show! It’s a perfect day to welcome David Cay Johnston, our Pulitzer Prize winning author and political analyst, to the show. Political news is starting off hot in 2024. The Trump legal team is working overtime to come up with a zillion different reasons why he shouldn’t face charges in elections Interference cases. The latest one is a head scratcher.Speaking of Trump, Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve, was full of fancy cars, fireworks and the sounds of Vanilla Ice and Lee Greenwood. It was not full of Melania. She’s taking care of her mother who is said to be deathly ill. Good thing the party doesn’t have to stop for a sick family member! Cue the fireworks! Jefferson Graham is bringing the tech to The Mark Thompson Show today. The Mark Thompson Show 1/2/24

Two States are now saying no thank you to having an insurrectionist on the ballot. Colorado was the first to toss Trump off and now Maine has joined in. The California Secretary of State says the matter has to be taken to the courts before California would take this action. We are in new territory when it comes to how these decisions are being made. Michael Shure will stop by to talk about it. It’s Friday which means it’s not just any old day. It’s Friday Fabulous Florida. We will bring John Daly in along with Albert to rubberneck at Florida’s crazy. The Culture Blaster, Michael Snyder, will ride in on his rainbow to bring us a little bit of sports, a little bit of art, and a lot of movies.

Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley shocked some voters yesterday at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. She was asked about the cause of the Civil War. Her answer was that the government was managing freedoms and telling people what they could and could not do. Then she tried to turn the question around on the voter who was flabbergasted that Haley couldn’t bring herself to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War. We are a little more used to shocking behavior from Trump. It’s no surprise that he is pulling out more lies. As mentioned on the Mark Thompson show Tuesday and Wednesday, three US troops were injured in a drone attack in Iraq. Trump said one troop member died which is not true. He also said no one is talking about it, again not true. He rattled off a bundle of lies that went unchecked during an interview with a Trump friendly journalist. Colorado Republicans have officially appealed to the US Supreme Court to keep Trump‘s name on their 2024 primary ballot. Former federal prosecutor and great legal mind. David Katz will help us sort it all out. Mark checks in with a good friend of the show, Shadoe Stevens. We’ll find out what’s been going on with him and what creative projects he has in the works. “It’s the Planet Stupid,” with Belinda Waymouth returns. President Biden’s energy policy is not pleasing everyone. We will dig into It.

US troops in the Middle East are facing new dangers. Three American service members were injured in a drone attack in Iraq. Threats to commercial shipping in the area are also putting US troops at risk. A CNN report indicates there are rising concerns that the Israel/Hamas war in Gaza could grow into a larger regional conflict. Is it party over for Vivek Ramaswamy? His campaign is cutting back spending on TV ads in some important states. He says TV ad spending is for candidates with a low IQ, but despite the tough facade, it could signal trouble in Vivek-land. We’ll ask John Rothmann about those issues and more. A Mark Thompson Show special holiday event: Mark sits down with Bill Siddons. He managed music groups like The Doors, Oingo Boingo and Crosby,Stills & Nash. It’s a fascinating interview that shines a light on an important time in music history.

The Mark Thompson Show Birthday Edition!Even though our revered founder is still making his way back to us, we celebrate his birthday in his absence ⭐️💐🎉🎈 why, it’s almost like Christmas part II. David Cay Johnston will be in to help us cover politics. We’ll look at the Trump Christmas Day rantings on social media. More importantly, we will dive into President Biden ordering the U.S. military to perform retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups. This comes as three U.S. service members in Iraq were injured in a drone attack.We start the show talking sports. What happened to the 49ers? A Christmas Day thumping that made the Yule log taste sour! Rich Walcoff, formerly of KGO & KNBR will lay it all out. Jefferson Graham is back from a holiday trip to Japan. He will be in to talk tech. The Mark Thompson Show 12/26/23Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you’d like to help, here’s our Patreon Link:https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshowMaybe you’re more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24And you’ll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com

You may remember John Schneider from the TV show the Dukes of Hazzard. Now, he may be remembered for what appears to be his threatening words on the Internet. His social media post is now deleted, but here’s what it said: “Mr President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung,” Schneider wrote to Biden. “Your son too.” We’ll talk about that and the emergence of yet another election interfering phone call by Trump in 2020. This one was made to people tasked with certifying the vote in Michigan. Elex Michaelson, host of “The Issue Is” will join the conversation. Friday brings us a gator in this edition of Friday Fabulous Florida. Add in Albert and John Daly and it’s a fun Friday morning. The Culture Blaster Michael Snyder is checking this week’s offerings at the box office. He’ll also offer love to the 49ers.

The Colorado Supreme Court voted 4-3 yesterday to take Donald Trump’s name off the 2024 primary ballot. The judges say he’s disqualified from being president because of the 14th Amendment clause banning a person from state or federal office who took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or gave “aid or comfort to insurrectionists. The ruling is stayed until January 4th to give Trump time to appeal. It is an unprecedented ruling and one deserving of our very first Mark Thompson show All-Star panel of analysts. We’ve truly never seen anything like this! The amazing John Rothmann will drop in to talk politics. Mark has a great conversation with Maria Baltazzi. She is an author and the former producer of shows like Survivor. Her focus these days is on teaching people how to achieve happiness..

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is rising in GOP primary polling and garnering interest as a good alternative to Donald Trump. New polling in New Hampshire done by CBS News/YouGov collected data from potential Republican primary voters. The poll shows 29 percent said they’d vote for Haley compared to 44 percent who said they would for Trump. However, her numbers are rising and if other candidates drop out, she could be a real threat. Already, the Trump campaign is spending money on Haley attack ads. Is it a sign they’re running scared.Texas is sending the police to arrest migrants coming into the United States illegally. Is the crisis so severe that border patrol agents need extra help?We will talk to David Cay Johnston about these topics and more. Mark dives into the world of Death Row Records. Screenwriter, film producer, director, and founder of Xenon Pictures, S. Leigh Savidge, talks about writing and producing the movie Straight Outta Compton. He’ll discuss meeting the people involved with Death Row Records and he’ll give us his take on the death of Tupac Shakur.Our favorite Astronomy Professor, Andrew Fraknoi, will join us to talk about meteor showers in the new year, what the James Webb telescope is showing us and what we are now learning about planetary systems that orbit other suns.

Is Trump taking a page from the Hitlarian playbook? Between his recent vermin comments and his speech this weekend where he said “immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country,” the language he’s using evokes a frightening time in world history. Why is it not giving more people pause? Oh the hypocrisy! A Florida couple, well known in ultra conservative circles, finds themselves in some trouble. Bridget Ziegler, one of the Mom’s for Liberty founders- a group known for banning books and for its disdain for the LGTBQ community, admitted to police that she had a three-way sexual encounter with her husband and another woman in the past. The other woman claims the husband, Christian Ziegler who is the head of Florida State Republican Party, sexually assaulted her when his wife missed their latest rendezvous. Police are conducting a criminal investigation. It is going to be a rainy week around the Bay Area. We will talk to to ABC7’s Spencer Christian about what’s in store.Mark sat down with Gregg Garfield, widely believed to be the first Southern California Covid case. We will hear his wild story of survival.https://www.gregggarfield.com/Karen Dawn checks in with animal news.